The Samsung Galaxy Metrix 4G ($129.99 direct in 4G areas; $179.99 otherwise) offers fast 4G LTE data speeds at a budget price, but it's all wrapped in a otherwise sluggish smartphone that feels old out of the box, thanks to its two-year-old Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS. The Galaxy Metrix 4G is a decent handset if you really want a hardware keyboard, especially since it's the only new U.S. Cellular handset with one to come out this year. But if you can relax the keyboard requirement, you can do much better.
Design, Screen, and Connectivity
The Galaxy Metrix 4G measures 4.96 by 2.54 by 0.55 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.8 ounces. With the exception of the glass screen, it's made entirely of black matte plastic with a dark chrome ring around the edge. You get a hardware power switch and a pair of volume buttons, but that's it for the controls. Four touch buttons sit beneath the display, because the Galaxy Metrix 4G runs an old version of Android. (This will be a recurring theme.)
The 4-inch Super AMOLED screen offers 800-by-480-pixel resolution, which is table stakes these days even on low-end Android phones. The display responds quickly to finger touches; colors are vivid, and it's reasonably bright. The slide-out, five-row QWERTY keyboard offers a roomy arrangement with a full number row across the top, plus bubbled membrane keys with a slightly sticky feel and muted click. You also get a large space bar and cursor control keys in a T pattern. It's easy to type quickly on.
The Galaxy Metrix 4G is a dual-band EV-DO Rev A (850/1900 MHz) and 4G LTE (700MHz) device with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. It also includes 5GHz support, which is a nice touch on a budget phone; I had no problem connecting to our WPA2-encrypted 5GHz hotspot in our labs. U.S. Cellular runs its own 3G and 4G LTE networks in portions of 26 states, and won our Readers' Choice award this year for its reasonable prices and reliable network. But right now, LTE coverage is limited to parts of Maine, North Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, and Iowa. I tested the phone in New York City, which meant it was roaming and 3G-only. You can use the Metrix 4G as a Wi-Fi hotspot with the appropriate data plan.
Voice Quality, OS, and Apps
Voice calls sound clear and crisp through the earpiece, with a bright, cutting tone that makes it easy to understand people in noisy environments. There's also a good amount of gain available. Transmissions through the microphone are mainly clear, although with some audible noise around a few words. Reception is a little weak; I heard a few computerized-sounding syllables in a voicemail test.
Calls sound fine through a Jawbone Era  Bluetooth headset, and I could trigger voice dialing over Bluetooth without issue. The speakerphone goes reasonably loud, and sounds clear enough as long as you turn the phone over to hear it. Battery life was good at 7 hours and 37 minutes of talk time.
The single-core 1GHz processor is old news, just like the Gingerbread OS is. Unfortunately, there's no word on a possible update to Android 4.0 or 4.1. The UI is more or less basic Android, with little in the way of Samsung customizations. There are five customizable home screens you can swipe between. U.S. Cellular preloads a few apps, but there's little actual bloatware, and you can remove it all.
Google Play has over 600,000 third-party apps, and aside from the ancient OS revision, you shouldn't run into much trouble running any of them. Unfortunately, many basic tasks like joining a Wi-Fi network, pairing a Bluetooth headset, or snapping photos take extra steps or have little delays built into them, thanks to the older Android version. It all feels a little sluggish and gummy, and generally poor benchmark scores across the board confirmed these impressions.
Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions
There's 2.15GB of available internal storage, plus a microSD card slot underneath the battery cover that accepts 32GB cards; Samsung throws in a 4GB card, and my own 32GB SanDisk card worked fine. A standard-size 3.5mm headphone jack sits on the top edge of the phone. Music tracks sounded fine over Plantronics BackBeat Go Bluetooth earphones , and the Galaxy Metrix 4G displayed large album art. Standalone H.264, MPEG, DivX, and Xvid videos played fine, with in-sync stereo audio over Bluetooth, but the phone maxed out at 720p and rejected my 1080p media files.
The 5-megapixel autofocus camera has an LED flash. I lost a test shot to motion blur, thanks to sluggish shutter speeds, and the autofocus took almost two seconds to lock in each time. But most photos looked fine, with decent color balance and detail outdoors. Indoor shots kept noise to a minimum, but colors looked flat. Recorded 720p and VGA videos look good and stayed at an even 30 frames per second both indoors and out, though there's no 1080p option or image stabilization. There's also a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera for video chats.Â
Our favorite smartphone on U.S. Cellular remains the $199.99 Samsung Galaxy S III , which lacks a hardware keyboard, but features blistering dual-core CPU performance, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), a 720p high definition 4.8-inch screen, and a significantly better camera with 1080p video recording and image stabilization. Even if you fancy yourself a die-hard keyboard fan, the Galaxy S III is so much better that I strongly suggest you at least try typing on it. Aside from that, the HTC Merge is still available, and it's now just $99.99. But it's getting really dated, as it runs the even older Android 2.2 (Froyo) out of the box and has a slower 800MHz processor; it's pretty similar otherwise, albeit with HTC's Sense UI extensions.
More Cell Phone Reviews:
•  LG Splendor (U.S. Cellular)
•  Samsung Galaxy Metrix 4G (U.S. Cellular)
•  Samsung Array (Sprint)
•  Samsung Array (Boost Mobile)
•  LG Escape (AT&T)
• more
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